Waltz wins supporting-actor Globe for 'Django'

By DAVID GERMAIN, AP Movie Writer
| 5:17 p.m.Jan. 13, 2013

Christoph Waltz poses with the award for best performance by an actor in a supporting role in a motion picture for “Django Unchained” backstage at the 70th Annual Golden Globe Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Sunday Jan. 13, 2013, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)
— Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

Christoph Waltz poses with the award for best performance by an actor in a supporting role in a motion picture for “Django Unchained” backstage at the 70th Annual Golden Globe Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Sunday Jan. 13, 2013, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)
/ Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. 
Christoph Waltz has won the supporting-actor Golden Globe for his role as a genteel bounty hunter who takes on an ex-slave as apprentice in "Django Unchained."

Sunday's win was Waltz's second supporting-actor prize at the Globes, both of them coming in Quentin Tarantino films. Waltz's violent but paternal and polite "Django" character is a sharp contrast to the wickedly bloodthirsty Nazi he played in his Globe and Oscar-winning role in Tarantino's 2009 tale "Inglourious Basterds."

"Let me gasp," said Waltz, whose competition included "Django" co-star Leonardo DiCaprio. "Quentin, you know that my indebtedness to you and my gratitude knows no words."

Pop star Adele and co-writer Paul Epworth won for best song for their theme tune to the James Bond adventure "Skyfall."

"Oh, my God!" Adele gushed repeatedly, before offering gratitude to the group that presents the Globes. "I'd like to thank the Hollywood Foreign Press. I never thought I'd say that."

The prize for musical score went to Mychael Danna for the lost-at-sea tale "Life of Pi," who said he wanted to share the award with the film's director, Ang Lee.

"Ang, I will always treasure this voyage we made together," Danna said. "Thank for guiding us all to shore safely."

Show hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, who co-starred in the 2008 big-screen comedy "Baby Mama," had a friendly rivalry at the Globes. Both were nominated for best actress in a TV comedy series, Fey for "30 Rock" and Poehler for "Parks and Recreation."

"Tina, I just want to say that I very much hope that I win," Poehler told Fey at the start of the show.

"Thank you. You're my nemesis. Thank you," Fey replied.

Poehler also had a quip about television vs. film at the Globes, where the small-screen category typically takes a backseat to the big-screen nominees.

"Only at the Golden Globes do the beautiful people of film rub shoulders with the rat-faced people of television," Poehler said.

Among TV recipients were Julianne Moore won a best-actress Globe for her role as Sarah Palin in "Game Change," which also was picked as best TV miniseries or movie. "Homeland" was named best TV drama series, and its star Damian Lewis received the TV drama actor Globe. Maggie Smith as supporting actress for "Downton Abbey."

"I'd like to dedicate this to my mum, looking down on me bursting with pride telling everyone around her how well her son is doing in acting," Lewis said.

An unusually chilly day in southern California left Globe guests looking glamorous but feeling frigid.

Claire Danes of "Homeland" in Versace and Zooey Deschanel of "New Girl" in a strapless Oscar de la Renta gown walked near heat lamps as the temperature stayed in the high 50s. "I'm so cold. My legs aren't cold but my arms are," Deschanel said.

The Globes are in a rare place this season, coming after the Academy Award nominations, which were announced earlier than usual and threw out some shockers that have left the Globes show a little less relevant.

All three films earned Globe nominations for best drama and director. Yet while "Lincoln," "Argo" and "Zero Dark Thirty" grabbed best-picture slots at Thursday's Oscar nominations, Bigelow and Affleck were snubbed for directing honors after a season that had seen them in the running for almost every other major award.

The Globe and Oscar directing fields typically match up closely. This time, though, only Spielberg and "Life of Pi" director Lee have nominations for both. Along with Spielberg, Lee, Bigelow and Affleck, Quentin Tarantino is nominated for directing at the Globes. At the Oscars, it's Spielberg, Lee, "Silver Linings Playbook" director David O. Russell and two surprise picks: veteran Austrian filmmaker Michael Haneke for "Amour" and first-time director Benh Zeitlin for "Beasts of the Southern Wild."

That forces some top-name filmmakers to put on brave faces for the Globes. And while a Globe might be a nice consolation prize, it could be a little awkward if Affleck, Bigelow or Tarantino won Sunday and had to make a cheery acceptance speech knowing they don't have seats at the grown-ups table for the Feb. 24 Oscars.

That could happen. While "Lincoln" has the most nominations, it's a purely American story that may not have as much appeal to Globe voters - about 90 reporters belonging to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association who cover entertainment for overseas outlets.

The Bigelow and Affleck films center on Americans, too, but they are international tales - "Zero Dark Thirty" chronicling the manhunt for Osama bin Laden and "Argo" recounting the rescue of six U.S. embassy workers trapped in Iran amid the 1979 hostage crisis.

Globe voters might want to make right on a snub to Bigelow three years ago, when they gave their best-drama and directing prize to ex-husband James Cameron's sci-fi blockbuster "Avatar" over her Iraq war tale "The Hurt Locker."

Bigelow made history a month later, becoming the first woman to win the directing Oscar for "The Hurt Locker," which also won best picture.

Globe voters like to be trend-setters, but they missed the boat on that one. Might they feel enough chagrin to hand Bigelow the directing trophy this time?

Spielberg already has won two best-director Globes, so that might be a further inducement for the foreign-press members to favor someone else this time.

Their votes were locked in before the Oscar nominations came out. Globe balloting closed Wednesday, the day before the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced its awards lineup.

The Globe hosts had a wisecrack at Cameron's expense. Poehler noted that she had not been following the controversy over "Zero Dark Thirty," which has drawn criticism for indicating torture was pivotal in producing the tip that led to bin Laden.

But "when it comes to torture, I trust the lady who was married for three years to James Cameron," Poehler said.

The Globes feature two best-picture categories - one for drama and one for musical or comedy. Most of the Globe contenders also earned Oscar best-picture nominations, including all of the drama picks: "Argo," "Lincoln," "Life of Pi," "Django Unchained" and "Zero Dark Thirty."

Yet only two of the Globe musical or comedy nominees - "Les Miserables" and "Silver Linings Playbook" - are in the running at the Oscars. That's not unusual, though, since Oscar voters tend to overlook comedy. The other Globe nominees for musical or comedy are "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel," "Moonrise Kingdom" and "Salmon Fishing in the Yemen."

Globe acting recipients usually are a good sneak peek for who will win at the Oscars. All four of last season's Oscar winners - Meryl Streep for "The Iron Lady," Jean Dujardin for "The Artist," Octavia Spencer for "The Help" and Christopher Plummer for "Beginners" - took home a Globe first.